Back-to-school time is here and it’s essential for educators to start building a comfortable and secure atmosphere in their classrooms from day one.
One way to ease into the new year is with icebreakers – shared exercises and activities that help students shed their first-day anxieties and get to know their new classmates. Teachers can also learn about their new students through icebreaker activities, which carry none of the usual stress of assignments and exams.
Unlike many other classroom activities, icebreakers aren’t graded and have no “right” answers. Participation is the only required element! The following icebreakers are designed to engage kids’ interest and make them feel at home with their new classmates. Expect laughter (but not mayhem).
Best Icebreakers for Back to School
Edutopia: 10 Community-Building Ideas
These low-tech activities aren’t flashy and don’t require artificial intelligence. Yet each one offers a way for students to connect with and learn about each other at the beginning of the school year. Divided into elementary, middle, and high school, activities are accompanied by helpful images and videos from real-life classrooms. Try the classroom shout-out, Friendly Friday, or Rose and Thorn for quick yet meaningful student interactions.
Carnegie Learning: 20 Activities for the First Day of School
The first day of school is usually taken up with administrative tasks, seating assignments, and learning your student’s names. Why not make it more memorable for yourself and your students? In this article, Carnegie Learning spotlights math, ELA, and language activities for elementary through high school grades. Each activity is clearly explained and features several variations on the theme.
12 AI-Enhanced Icebreakers To Motivate Learners
Educator, author, and Tech & Learning advisor Carl Hooker shares (with humor and expertise) his top AI-enhanced icebreakers for the classroom. Explore icebreakers such as Favorite Images, Futuristic Headlines, and Five-Word Challenge to spark your students’ interest and creativity.
Make Beliefs Comix Starters
This fully free site aims to inspire kids to exercise their creative spirit through comic strip creation. Make Beliefs Comix is chock full of great activities, but Comic Strip Starters is especially appropriate for a back-to-school icebreaker. Kids simply choose the cartoon that appeals to them, then write a story to fit the single-panel cartoon. This activity can be expanded into a longer lesson, or kept as a simple, low-stress icebreaker.
Elementary Student Back-to-School Icebreakers
This interesting collection of outside-the-box yet accessible icebreakers for elementary school includes a book read-aloud, time capsule, fun with emojis, and (my favorite), a math activity that challenges kids to create equations to describe their age, name, and other characteristics. Activities are suitable for both in-person and remote learning.
Magnetic Poetry Kids
Simple, free, and easy-to-use digital “magnetic” poetry game lets users quickly create original poems and download them as .png images. Kid-safe word pool. No refrigerator needed!
Storyboard That Icebreaker Questions
Six engaging digital icebreakers that will prompt kids’ thinking and imagination. Includes KWL (know/want to know/learned) charts, conversation cubes, riddles, and more.
7 Digital Icebreakers using Google
Ideal for both remote and in-person teaching, these digital icebreakers make use of free Google tools—Docs, Sheets, and Slides—to help kids get to know one another and find common ground with their classmates.
Read Write Think
“My Summer Vacation” is a popular writing assignment in the new school year. Consider this interactive timeline as a fun twist on the old standby. Kids simply click to add events such as sports, summer camp, family vacations, or summer jobs, then add a written description and images. The final product can be downloaded, printed, or exported as a PDF file. Free, no account needed.
Fun Icebreaker Ideas & Activities
Searchable by group size and category, this free site offers more than 100 icebreakers, team-building exercises, group games, family-friendly activities, worksheets, and more. Among the dozens of great classroom icebreakers are “Personal Trivia Baseball,” “Time Hop,” and “Memorable Catchy Names.”
21 Free Fun IceBreakers
Explore these classic and modern free digital icebreakers and select the perfect ones for your in-person or online class.
Magnetic Poetry
Having a limited set of words is a great entry into self expression. Choose from Kids, Nature, Geek, Happiness, or the Original digital magnetic word collections and have your students get creative. Be prepared for the unexpected! No account required.
BoomWriter
Teachers place students into groups and have each one write a page of a story, then share with the class using BoomWriter’s innovative writing and voting process. Free trials available.
Share my Lesson Icebreaker Activities
Dozens of high quality icebreaker lessons and activities created by your fellow teachers. Searchable by grade, subject, standards, and attributes, these activities include games, quizzes, speaking topics, and more.
